Reaney's pick: The Allison Lupton Band

Oxford County-raised folksinger Allison Lupton shares a classic tale of life on her family’s farm in this week’s Reaney’s Pick video.

“It’s a story-song that I wrote about a day when my father went (out to play) long before I was born . . . a good old story-song from Zorra Township,” Lupton, of Cambridge, said of Bonnie and May during the video shoot.

Bonnie and May were two heroic and dutiful Percherons who pulled the plow as her grandfather worked the fields at the Harrington-area farm. One day, Lupton’s father, then a young child, followed his dad into the field.

Lupton’s grandfather did not notice his son was following him. So he had no way of knowing his tiny son had curled up in the field and fallen asleep.

Finally, as it was time for the final furrows, the Percherons pulled and pulled, closing in on the sleeping child.

Bonnie and May stopped. Lupton’s grandfather tried and tried to get them moving once more. The Percherons would not be moved. Finally, the Oxford County farmer moved. And found a cause for joyful relief — and thanksgiving.

“He went around (Bonnie and May) and found his son there. It was pretty amazing,” Lupton said Tuesday.

The family tale with the joyful ending is a track on Lupton’s 2014 album Half My Heart.

Joining her in Tuesday’s video were two members of her all-star band — London fiddler Shane Cook and guitarist, banjo player and singer Ian Bell of Paris.

Also a flute star, Lupton and multi-instrumentalist Bell have been playing together for about 15 years. Cook joined in about two years ago.

“It is always a treat to play in Shane’s hometown,” Lupton said of Friday’s gig at the London Music Club. Her full band will be on hand Friday with bassist Denis Rondeau and mandolin ace Andrew Collins joining Lupton, Bell and Cook. All five are among the musicians on Half My Heart.

The three video stars had played shows at Strathroy schools earlier on Tuesday.

The Lupton farm is about mid-way (15 minutes each way) from Stratford in Perth County and Embro in Oxford County.

Lupton started singing in the choir at Harrington’s Presbyterian church.

Early in her folk music career, she was part of the group Killiecrankie.

She has played such folk fests as Mariposa, released albums during the 2000s and frequently been heard on CBC Radio.

Recently, Lupton’s One More Day (also on Half My Heart) was the English-language grand-prize winner in the 2015 edition of Folk Music Ontario’s Songs From the Heart competition.

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